Improvement in billiard-tables



2' Sheets-Sheet; 2.

J. E. BOYLE. Billiard-Table.

No.- 203,108. Pa'tented Apr-H 30, 1878.

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"PE R PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON D13- .UNITED STATES JAMES E. BOYLE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., Assrenon TO HUGH w.

1ooLLENDEE, OF SAME PLACE.

PATENT QFEI-CE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BlLL lAR D-TABLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 203,108, dated April 30, 1878 application filed March 23, 1878.

. To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES E. BOYLE, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Billiard-Tables;

and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

making part of this specification.

In the use of the ordinary six-pocket billiard-table, for the purposes of the game of fifteen-ball pool, the keeping of the game has for the purposes of the game mentioned, in

that frequently, before the game-keeper or attendant of the table had time to remove from some one of the pockets a ball deposited therein, another ball would be played into the same pocket, and, striking the one already in the receptacle, would be thrown out, either onto the tableor floor, much to the injury of the balls and annoyance of the players.

And still another 'difliculty has arisen, in the use of the ordinary table for pool-playing, in the fact that sometimes, from anoversight, a ball would remain in a pocket until a succeeding player would'fmish his inning, when either the players would receive credit for the wrong ball on their scores at the ball-rack, or a dispute would be occasioned on the question of title to certain balls found in the pockets; all of which objections I propose to overcome by my improvement, which, to this end and object, consists in providing the ordinary six-pocket billiard-table with means for insuring the conduction of all the balls that may be pocketed to a ball-receptacle, located at some part of the table-body, preferably at one end, from whence they may be removed by the attendant without walking around the table to collect them, and whereby all the enumerated difficulties are overcome.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to more fully describe the construction and operation of a billiard-table having my improvement embodied therein.

- In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a top view of such a table. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal longitudinal section; and Fig. 4. is a vertical longitudinal central section.

1 In the several figures the same part will be found designated by the same letter of reference.

ble embracing my improvements, and E are the cushion-rails thereof. F G H I J K are the six pockets of the table, located, as usual,

. one at each corner and one at the middle of each of the two longer sides of the table, and in the cushion-rails. 7

Instead, however, of being made in the form most commonly used, so as to constitute a sort of bag to retain the balls therein deposited, these pockets are made bottomless, so that, on the reception by any one of them of a ball, the latteris permitted to descendthrough it freely. Beneath each of these receptacles is arranged a conduit or conveying device, 1 2 3 4 5 6, communicating with said ball-receptacle, and leading downward and away there from, the said conduits being made of the proper size and shape to permit the free pas sage of the balls into and along through them, and being so inclined downward from the points where they communicate with the pockets that the balls played into the latter, descend ing into said conduits, will roll along therein toward points of escape from said conduits or conductors.

The conductors all converge at one locality, where they communicate with a ball rack or rest, M, which may be of any desired form and construction, and may be so made that the balls fed to it or discharged into it from the several conductors shall be kept separated in such manner as to determine always with perfect certainty the pocket-source from which each and every ball found in the rack M came. I have shown the rack M made with a series A is the bed, B the body or frame, and O i the legs of an ordinary six-pocket billiard-taof semicircular recesses, 19, into which the balls will pass from the several conductors, but the details of construction in this particular may be varied infinitely without departing from my invention in this respect, which consists in having combined with the discharge ends of the conveyers some suitable receptacle adapted to receive and keep separated the balls discharged into it, so that the game keeper, or anyone else, can observe at once which pocket any ball came from.

If desired, the recesses or compartments of the'rack M may be lettered or numbered to correspond with figures or letters applied to the table near each of the pockets.

The form and arrangement of the conductors may, of course, be varied, and other means than those shown may be employed to perform the functions of these devices in my improved billiard-table, the office of these devices being simply to receive the pocketed balls and transfer them to a general receptacle, from which the game-keeper can remove them, in such a manner that the pockets from which the several balls came can be readily ascertained by positions of the balls in the receptacle M.

The pockets may be made of any detail construction desirable, so long as they are so con structed as to permit the passage of the balls downward through them into the conveyers communicating therewith.

I have thus fully described and explained my invention, so that any one skilled in the art of making billiard-tables can make one embracing my improvement, and that any one familiar with the use of billiard-tables can use my improved table.

I am aware that bagatelle-tables have been made with bottomless pockets and independent conduits for carrying the balls to a common receptacle, and do not therefore wish to be understood as claiming such construction broadly; but

What I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

1. The combination, with the bed A and cushions E of a billiard-table of usual construction, of bottomless pockets, F G &c., and ball-conduits, 1 2 3 &c., leading to a common receptacle, the whole arranged to operate as specified, for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with the bedA and cushions E of a billiard-table, the bottomless pockets and conductors, arranged to operate as described, and a receptacle, M, formed with compartments communicating, respectively, with the several conductors, as specified, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereofl have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of March, 1878.

J. E. BOYLE.

In presence of WM. M. FOWLER, JAooB FELBEL. 

